Apr 4, 2011

A light Spring pasta dish the whole family will enjoy; baby shells are tossed with chopped asparagus and a light marinara sauce. Quick and easy, perfect for vegetarians or meatless Fridays.

Asparagus is in season, and I'm probably the only one in my house who truly loves it, so to get everyone else on board requires some work (or sneaking into their food). Chopping it real small and combining it with cute little pasta shells which hug each bite of asparagus works perfect in my house!

Having a toddler and a teenager in the house, I try to come up with quick and healthy, well-balanced meals everyone will enjoy because making separate dishes is not an option in my house. I always have marinara sauce on hand to use throughout the week. I make large batches of it and freeze the rest in portions in zip-lock bags. You can make a double batch of this sauce to use for other recipes throughout the week or freeze it for a later time. This recipe requires having cooked marinara sauce on hand, so if you don't have any make the sauce as your first step.

I wish there was more variety in pasta shapes for high fiber and whole wheat pastas. If you prefer to use a high fiber pasta, low carb or gluten-free pasta you can use elbows instead.

Boil about 4 inches of water in a large pot, when boiling add asparagus and cook about 2 to 3 minutes, or until tender crisp. Drain and chop into small bite sized pieces.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (you can use the same pot from the asparagus not to dirty too many dishes). Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente.

While pasta is cooking, in a medium saucepan heat 1-1/2 cups marinara sauce. Drain pasta and RESERVE a cup of the pasta water.

Return pasta back to the pot and toss with marinara, asparagus, grated cheese, salt and pepper and a 1/4 cup of the pasta water or as needed to loosen the sauce. Divide between four bowls and top with fresh pepper and more grated cheese if desired.

I can not say enough how much I love your recipes! I made 4 of them this weekend and all of them were loved by my husband and 15 month old son. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is! I am on WW but my husband is not. Finding recipes that are healthy for all of us but delicious enough not to taste like "diet" food is a challenge. I just finished eating carrots and your skinny ranch dip. You make me want to be in the kitchen again. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart (and tummy!). :)

I agree about the whole wheat pasta. I'm in a rural area and long for the days I can take a road trip to a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods, to gawk at all the variety of foods we never have close to home.

I have a teenager and two lil ones at home. And what I cook for dinner everyone eats; I'm not a short-order cook.

this sounds delicious and I would LOVE to make it tonight but I don't think my husband would eat it. I have a turkey breast that hasn't thawed and have no clue what to make tonight. This would be marvelous for me (but I would use spaghetti, I don't have shells in the house)....and I would have to use feta...it sounds really good!

The recipe was awesome...although i used spaghetti because i didnt have any shells, next time i will use the shells! I love your homemade marinara also :) I added a touch of crushed red pepper for a little kick

This recipe looks delicious Gina. We had the chicken & mushrooms in the white wine garlic sauce. Everyone wanted seconds. It was terrific. Trying to lose weight is hard enough, but if it was boring it would be difficult. Thanks for letting us change it up quite a bit.

I Just made this is and it's FAB! I used bow-ties because my husband has a thing about shells... (don't ask...:))). It tastes delicious, it's easy and spring-y -- even though it snowed here in upstate NY this morning.

I got this recipe in my inbox this morning. Had 2 grocery sacks full of asparagus in my frig from the past few days. I have homemade canned marinara sauce from last summer. I made this for lunch and it was loved by all! Such a good "light" lunch option! And takes no time at all! I think next time I might throw some baby portabello mushrooms in as well! Thanks so much!

Made this last night, the hub and the 8 yr old now-picky-eater loved it and opted that instead of fideo for lunch today!! YAY!! It is so light and filling. It reminds me of a lean cusine meal (thats a compliment, I can make my own!)

I found a brand of high fiber mini pasta and my fred meyers!! It is barilla. I loved this meal, btw, and my BF, who likes to joke that its not dinner without meat in it, liked it and said so! Yummmmmmmmmm.

I'm so happy to add this recipe to my collection. Even my 20 year old (picky as could be) sister ate her whole serving and raved about it. I was completley shocked and so happy to have pleased her! Believe me, its hard to!

Hi Gina, I was just wondering where you can get the Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes. I didn't see them at Dierbergs today. I used Hunts and the sauce turned out very good. I would love to try the type you used though. So glad that I have found your website.. its nice to have Weight Watcher friendly meals that taste good :)Amy

This sounds awsome. I am going to try making it this weekend. Hope I can get my husband to try it as he does not like asparagus. I wonder what it would taste like to substitute broccoli for the asparagus.

This looks really good, though there isn't really any protein. Maybe I'll add some chicken. Oh, and I don't eat gluten and Tinkyada makes a DELICIOUS shell pasta. Doesn't taste any different from regular!